What *happened* in Wisconsin today?

[Matariki]

any thoughts? intuitions?

I don't trust the results, but my bias is surely affecting my intuition. That guy is a weasel though - that I'm sure of.

[elleng]

1. You can see all the counties here.

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2012/wisconsin-recall-results

I know little about the State, but its clear there's more there than Madison and Milwaukee. Dems DID regain a majority in the State Senate, though, which means quite a lot.

Basically, I suspect its due to all the out of State $$$ the repugs had to spend on propaganda, compared with little for the Democrat Barrett, which was enabled by Citizens United and a 198? Wisconsin decision concerning what an incumbent may spend on a recall election.

Clearly my response isnot related to astrology!

[magical thyme]

2. attempted recall was not the best route to proceed

They rarely succeed.

If the polls were rigged, then we are done as a democracy because the takeover is complete.

But there may have been a backlash by people not directly impacted by Walker's policies, who would have preferred to wait out the election cycle.

I do think, given the outside and outsized spending by the opposition, that it was a tactical error.

Astrologically, beats me.

[felix_numinous]

3. I agree

with you completely Magical Thyme:
"If the polls were rigged, then we are done as a democracy because the takeover is complete."

SO strange that the election was on the day of the Venus transit. You know all day yesterday I had a funky feeling about this election-- and today I feel worse. My instincts are sensing some really underhanded business. I can write this here on ASAH only.

[Matariki]

5. It's difficult to believe that the massive turnout yesterday was *for* Scott Walker

and now today folks are saying turnout was low. my lying eyes...

[The Blue Flower]

4. We got to find out what we're up against

Change doesn't come easy.

[findrskeep]

6. It was unbelievable...

I wish more people would wake up sooner, rather than later. On the other hand, sometimes things like this are what trigger people to awaken. My husband and I watched it and were both speechless, well more or less..lol. I too felt like something was amiss, and maybe something will come out about it later. And with Barrett being out spent 8 to 1, with most money coming from out of state Republicans with an obvious agenda, will show democrats that the election in November can also be bought and more people will chip in.
What a mess.

[noel711]

7. I knew intuitively what would happen.

My heart was heavy all day.
I doubt there was any actual fraud.
The fraud that is perpetuated is the constant propaganda that
is called 'media' and 'political ads.'
the fraud that convinces people to believe what they are told,
and emotionally believe..
And convinced not to think for themselves..

The fraud is the 'ginned' up political extremism,
the 'us vs them,' and the 'all or nothing' thinking.

It is tragic, and I don't see a light at the end of this story.
Walker and all his compadres are not really leaders,
but are following a playbook to manipulate the electorate
and pervert the democracy to benefit a select few.
This is not only unethical.. it is moral abuse.

But as I said in another thread: The wheels of justice grind slowly....

[midnight]

8. Here in Wisconsin our machines were switched out and replaced with the Sequoia opti scan that

were shown in Florida to give the loser the winning votes....

"In Wisconsin, the state’s leading vendors of voting machines, election supplies, and distributors of Dominion Voting Systems is Command Central. Dominion is a veritable cartel of Republican backed voting technology and owns Diebold/Premier Election voting Systems, which it bought from Election Systems and Software (ES&S), and the British based Sequoia. Diebold/Premier, famous for the mess that was the 2004 Presidential election, and ES&S are owned and operated by a handful of Republican, super-rich, Christian Reconstructionists and control 80% of the vote counts in the United States."http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/06/07/recall-election-fraud-in-wisconsin-you-betcha/

[Saokymo]

9. And this is exactly why I feel the election was rigged

American Democracy: Bought for you by Diebold!

They don't have to steal all the votes to pull it off, just flip (or in some cases, fabricate) enough to make it close enough to be plausible. The whole thing stinks.